Worm Farming Aka Vermicomposting!

[LittleDabbie]

Heres my Tea 3 hours shy of 24 hours, in about 3 hours i'll replace the castings with fresh and ad another tbl spoon of mollassess and concentrate some Tea! :D

fun stuff!

 

[LittleDabbie]

Tea Tea Tea!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dunge]

Up-potting to 3 gallon.
Each gets a fork full.

I don't feed the upper level anything but alfalfa tea solids and it's thick with worms.
Iv'e had mites and flies, but not since feeding kitchen waste to lower level.

 

[LittleDabbie]

Little update on my worm farm * Moved a chunk of purred food around so you could see the worms in action*

Single bin run without a lid these days keeps the oxygen levels up, found out with the lid and even with the holes they were still not getting enough air supply..

there happy as can be now!

 

[LittleDabbie]

Cpl more pics,, GOD i love worms!!! first pic is before i broke up the orgy, 2nd pic gives a slighter better view of some of the worms but theres sooooooo many deeper in the bedding all over.. its awesome!!!

 

[colostoney]

im pumped I got a appointment to tour a pro worm farm here this Friday ill share whatever I learn

 

[LittleDabbie]

More worm bin fun!

 

[LittleDabbie]

The big brown semi wet looking spot with no dry food is an area where a huge chunk of veggies and horse shit were took them about a week to devour that and the coir i put on top lol, Now i spread some horse shit all around the perimeter since i got a few large worms that as you can see like to crawl the edges of the bin... and for now i'll sprinkle purina worm chow on top for another week or two then go back to veggies and fruit purree feeding.. I like to switch them from wet to dry food every cpl weeks balance there diet, Plus the worm chow i guess makes them wanna breed, but i dunno if thats true..

Been making up batches of worm tea as well, pulling out live worms from the compost tea bags after 24 hours! Was surprised to find live worms in there but i guess enough oxygen in the water and they can survive... :D

One of my house plants has sprouted up a new set of leaves and those are getting bigger thanks to my tea! my new house plant i bought is sprouting a new leaf as well! Looking very healthy got him under a 50w CFL it likes medium light so this seems perfect. Just watered it yesterday with my brew so gotta wait let the soil dry and water again! Can't wait to see how big and red this plant gets.. ( Gets a nice Red outter edge around the leaves )

*Plants posted in the michigan strains pics whatever thread* Page i dunno cpl pages back before the end :D

Sent a friend about 500 worms for xmas he got his bin rockin now gave him a spare 1/4" wire mesh gold pan to sift some worms with and a cpl pounds of worm chow as well..

Tryin to get all my friends into vermicomposting ! Fun stuff it is!

 

[LittleDabbie]

So i figured out a nice solution to the over foaming problem, a 200mesh ( soon to be replaced with a 55 mesh ) 5 gallon screen.. Ordered it to strain the tea so i can folier spray my plants but quickly realized this will combat the over - foaming issues :D

w00t!

There about 10$ on ebay 5$ for the mesh then 5$ shipping... Worth it tho fits a 5 gallon bucket nicely!

They got all size mesh so you can pick and choose or stack uhm even!

 

[LittleDabbie]

Ok so i wanted to see how fast they could go thru some of this purina worm chow i bought, First picture is right after i fed the bed, 2nd' picture is 14 hours after feeding..

As you can see these little fuckers eat! and eat and eat! lol Theres a pile of wet mushy fruits and such under the bedding too takes them about a week to finish that off..

 

[hyzerflip]

Is bT safe for worm bins? I use bT in my soil to control fungus gnats and I'm hoping I can use spent soil as my 'browns' in the worm bin.

 

[LittleDabbie]

Is bT safe for worm bins? I use bT in my soil to control fungus gnats and I'm hoping I can use spent soil as my 'browns' in the worm bin.

I don;t know what BT is but if it has any salt in it no its not safe for worms.... Salt of any kind will dry them out and kill them.

 

[hyzerflip]

I don;t know what BT is but if it has any salt in it no its not safe for worms.... Salt of any kind will dry them out and kill them.

It's an organic soil bacterium that's commonly used to control fungus gnats and other larval pests.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis

Follow-up question - Does anyone have a good recommendation for a DIY flow-through bin design? I'd like a setup that's easier to harvest and maintain than my current rubbermaid with holes. :D

 

[LittleDabbie]

In that case YES!!!!! USE BT!!!!!!!!! :D Worms love bacteria ( less salmonella ) but.. :p

Flow thru your best option would be to buy a worm factory, personally i kinda enjoy the whole dig and sift the worms out of the castings,, reminds me of being a kid again.

Might need to adjust the PH a little tho dolomite works well but pretty much any calcium based PH UP will work, i try to keep mine as close to 7 as possible but with the acidic food and shit it can drop pretty low + bedding.. so dolomite or crushed dried powdered egg shells will also work.

I just sprinkle dolomite in with the food mix and let uhm go to town.

 

[Dunge]

Worms love bacteria ( less salmonella ) but.. :p

An active insecticide mode for BTi (bacillus thuringiensis israliensis) is said to come from the toxic packet formed when the cell sporulates.
I use Gnatrol (BTi) in my grow, but have never put it directly in my worm bin.
I do have worms in my grow pots, and they seem healthy.

 

[LittleDabbie]

Worm casting tea its self is also a natural pesticide, Dumped a cup full on my horse shit bin and BAM no more flying gnats around, no more bugs no more smell nada :D

 

[OGONLY]

I'm going to have to try adding lime to my bins. I'm guessing mine are very acid and likely why I have the occasional escapees dried on the concrete adjacent to my bins. Also going to add some coco coir as I've got plenty of that.

I've had these tiny black moths in my bins for over a year. They don't seem to harm anything though. I've also got some little mite type bugs crawling around the bin. These are my biggest worry, but again don't seem to cause to much harm.

I like to add azomite to my bins as a grit supplement. Wish I had a good sand supply available. I could see that being a valuable input. My worms love shredded cardboard, and I often use egg boxes (torn up and wetted before added) as a bedding. This seems to help prevent the soupy casting effect I get in the corners of my bins. Within about a month the cardboard and egg box material is gone and turned to castings.

I have been adding worms to my regular compost bins to speed up the composting during cooler winter temps and I see the benefits clearly. The worms in those bins are FATTYs. They seem to be loving life. I'm sure they don't like it when I tumble the bins though, and some perhaps die during that process. There are babies in these bins though so it couldn't be too harsh for them.

 

[Dunge]

Worm casting tea its self is also a natural pesticide, Dumped a cup full on my horse shit bin and BAM no more flying gnats around, no more bugs no more smell nada :D

I have stacking plastic bins.
Since I started dumping my alfalfa tea solids on top and feeding to lower levels, the worm ecosystem dominates.
No bugs.

 

[LittleDabbie]

I have stacking plastic bins.
Since I started dumping my alfalfa tea solids on top and feeding to lower levels, the worm ecosystem dominates.
No bugs.

Yeah theres a few ways to kill bugs, I had white worms infecting my bin a dose of EWC tea and the bugs are all gone :D

 

[LittleDabbie]

Upgraded the worm bin to a larger 33 gallon Longer bin to allow the reg wigglers more room in hopes of more reproduction, Plan on selling a bunch on ebay sometime make some moneys and buy my ass a damn xbox 1!!
Estimations puts the numbers between 5 and 6 thousand atm.

Im looking to sell off around 10k worth at least. or 10lbs worth. So going to start feed more purina worm chow word is that shit causes them to reproduce like crazy, plus i still got like 40lbs of it lol..